Lady Grizzlies District champs

RICHLAND – The Sunnyside Lady Grizzly wrestling team dominated the field on the way to winning the District team title last Saturday.

Sunnyside grabbed team-high scoring honors with 201 points followed by Ki-Be in second place at 161 points.

The Lady Grizz were paced by having three girls claim top honors in their respective weight classes.

Aylin Bautista (155 lbs.) claimed first-place honors with a pin in 4:48 over Connell’s Candy Mendez in the championship match.

In the 170-lb. weight class, Sunnyside’s Jessica Cardenas grabbed the top spot with a pin in 3:09 in the title match against Kittitas’ Jacqlyn Hunter.

Sunnyside’s final individual champ was Jasmine Starke (235 lbs.), who faced teammate Cassiday Ochoa in the title match. Starke prevailed with a pin in 3:45 to grab top honors, while Ochoa brought home runner-up hardware.

Rubi Ochoa (137 lbs.) also earned third-place honors for Sunnyside, when she received an injury default from Columbia-Burbank’s Kaylnn Morgan in the third/fourth place match.

Also placing for Sunnyside at Districts were Marissa Ornelas (145 lbs.) and Guadalupe Navarro (155 lbs.), who finished in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Sunnyside this coming Saturday will compete at Regionals. The top finisher in each weight class at Regionals will advance to State, except for the top two competitors in the heavyweight division. That’s according to Sunnyside Coach Terry Shines, who likes his team’s chances this Saturday.

“I think our chances are pretty good of taking at least eight to State,” he said. “If we can do that I’ll be happy as a clam.”